Previous meetings

2018

November 17, meeting at The Dutch Church, talk by Nigel North, recital of 6-course lute duets by Nigel North and Michael Gondko, mini-recitals by Martin Shepherd and Musicke in the Ayre. Also presenting our new Christmas cards, Christmas music, and John Robinson's new edition.

The articulate lutenist, a talk by Nigel North

Mini-recital by Martin Shepherd, playing from his new CD of Newsidler, Francesco and Pierino

Mini-recital, by Brian Wright and Jeni Melia

The symbolism of the Goldt lute in the V&A Museum, a talk by David van Edwards

September 8, Lute Society meeting at The Dutch Church with recital by Chelys and Dame Emma Kirkby.

Extraordinary General Meeting, to give final approval for transfer of the Lute Society’s assets to its new Charitable Incorporated Organisation, appointment of new committee members Myles Payne and Kevin Drake as trustees of the same, and confirmation of honorary members likewise.

August 31–September 2, Lute weekend, within Utrecht Early Music Festivalwww.luitdagen.nl/ featuring concert by European Lute Orchestra, 31st August, 8.15pm, at Geertekerk, Utrecht

May 5th Annual General Meeting, with recital by Andre Maginley

Annual General Meeting, including election of president and new committee members, and discussion of new Charitable Incorporated Organisation status for the Lute Society (There were motions (a) to approve the process of moving to a CIO in principle, (b) to approve the transfer of assets subject to the CIO being registered by the Charity Commission, at a date and amount to be determined by the trustees and (c) to approve dissolution of the old charity shortly thereafter.)

German 18th century lute compositional techniques and style, a talk by Andrew Maginley

The Lute Society Recital, German lute music of the 18th century, played by Andrew Maginley

February 10th, Fantasia improvisation day A joint meeting with the Lute Fantasia Improvisation Project of Geneva, with talks, masterclasses and final recital by Bor Zuljan.

The lute fantasia improvisation project, Jean-Yves Haymoz and Bor Zuljan introduce a new research project around fantasia improvisation on lute in the 16th century at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève and other institutions

Fantasia improvisation masterclass led by Jean-Yves Haymoz and Bor Zuljan

Presentation of theorbo made by David van Edwards lute building summer school, played by Yasuhiro Nakashima

Mini-recital to mark the 450th anniversary of Philip Rosseter, by Musick in the Ayre, Din Ghani and Jeni Melia

'Understanding Francesco Spinacino: The use of contrapunto alla mente and mode in the recercares from Intabulatura de lauto libro primo', a talk by Eric Thomas

Finale of fantasia improvisation masterclass

The Lute Society Recital: The improvised fantasia of the early 16th century, recital by Bor Zuljan

2017

November 18, Mediaeval lutes day at the Dutch Church. This meeting was one of our themed meetings, on a topic we tend to neglect, the mediaeval lute. We were delighted to welcome Jacob Mariani, to discuss his reconstruction of the mediaeval cetra, something barely attempted hitherto, and José Luis Pastor, one of the leading Spanish performers on mediaeval plucked strings. Matthew Spring discussed the earliest tablatures, while Massimo Marchese and Brian Wright plus singers made a welcome return.

The mediaeval art of the plectrum a talk, and demonstration of vihuela de peñola, Spanish and Italian mediaeval lutes, citole, hurdy gurdy, and mediaeval guitar, by José Luis Pastor

September 9, Original Instruments day, late lutes and early guitars: at the Dutch Church. Our late summer meeting featured the dual attractions of lots of live music, from a notably youthful roster of talent, and the chance to hear more original historical instruments. Taro Takeuchi brought an old Tielke lute and presented further researches on the ‘modern lutes’ of Regency England, while Peter Lay brought and played some historic guitars. We heard a new work played by Matt Wadwsorth, and young artists Richard Mackenzie, Ryaan Ahmed, Toby Carr and Vinicius Perez. Truly a meeting to unite the lute’s past and its future!

The ‘Lute’ and its Music, c. 1800: focusing on a converted Tielke lute, a talk, and demonstration of an original instrument by Taro Takeuchi

Mini-recital, a new work for theorbo by Steve Goss, played by Matt Wadsworth

Mini-recital ‘Tombeaux, a secular requiem for my father’ played by Richard Mackenzie

Mini-recital of theorbo and baroque guitar duets, played by Ryaan Ahmed and Toby Carr

An Accidental Collection, Peter Lay plays and discusses some of his collection of historic guitars

Home-made cake, tea and wine

The Lute Society Recital: The Galant Lute, Vinicius Perez plays lute music from the last days of the lute

Spring meeting, 6-May-2017 - at the Dutch Church London. At our meeting we enjoyed a treat we have not enjoyed in a while: a concert of lute and harpsichord duets. We also welcomed back Yavor Genov to discuss and play music from the Wurstisen lute book, and continued our perennial theme of historic insttument show-and-tell events, with the chance to hear a restored Sellas guitar with an original soundboard. And Sam Brown, a rising star among recitalists, discusses the composer John Danyel and his poet brother Samuel Danyel.

Lute Society AGM

Music, Poetry and the Jacobean elite: John Danyel and his brother Samuel, a talk by Sam Brown

The music of the Wurstisen lute book, an illustrated talk by Yavor Genov

A Sellas guitar with original soundboard demonstrated by the owner, Bernhard Hofstoetter, and restorer Alexander Batov

22 April, (extra meeting) A joint study day with the Early Dance Circle: 15th Century Dance and the Lute Inspired by the success of our last joint meeting with the EDC, we held a joint study day looking at the subject of dancing to the lute in the 15th century. At the Dutch Church.

The instrumental accompaniment of 15th century dance, a talk by Bill Tuck

The iconography of the 15th century lute and of its use in dance accompaniment, a talk by David van Edwards

Further short presentations and discussion

Dancing to Domenico’s instruments: Demonstration and workshop with audience participation led by Hazel Dennison, including live music from Bill Tuck

Final dance display with live music: Renaissance Footnotes, Hazel Dennison, Barbara Segal & Friends; with music from Matthew Spring and Chris Elmes

February 4 - Original instruments day Original instruments day at the Dutch Church - historic mandolins; joint meeting with the Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar Federation, with original instruments from the RCM collection, and private collections. Talks by Paul Sparks, Lars Berglund, Anna Rita Addessi, and Mimmo Peruffo. Recital by Davide Rebuffa, Andrea Damiani and Mauro Squillante.

The mandolin in 18th century Britain, a talk by Paul Sparks

The Gimo Collection and neapolitan mandolin repertoire in the second half of the 18th century, a talk by Lars Berglund and Anna Rita Addessi.

Mandolin gut and wire strings in the 17th and 18th centuries, a talk by Mimmo Peruffo

The mandolino in the 17th and early 18th century, talk by Davide Rebuffa with a presentation of original instruments from the Royal College of Music, Giovanni Accornero and Beare Violins Ltd, private collections, including a 4-course mandolino with its original case, from Stradivari’s workshop.

Wine, tea and home-made cake

The Lute Society Recital: The mandolin in Rome in the time of Corelli, Music by Cappelini, Colista, Ugolini, Caldara and Corelli, performed on original instruments by The Early Mandolin Academy: Davide Rebuffa (4 and 5-course mandolino), Mauro Squillante (5-course mandolino) and Andrea Damiani (theorbo and chitarra alla Spagnuola).

Historic Mandolin Workshop day, Sunday 5th February - The presence of Davide Rebuffa and Mauro Squillante in London enabled a day of workshops. This event was of special interest to players of historic mandolins, but participants using modern styles of mandolin were also very welcome to take part. Davide Rebuffa’s classes focused on the baroque mandolino and music by Sauli. Mauro Squillante is a specialist in the repertoire, performance techniques and organology of historic plectrum instruments and concentrated on performance practice for the baroque Neapolitan mandolin, using music by Leone and Gervasio, composers known to have spent time in London during the 18th century.

2016

Saturday 19th November at the Dutch Church - a talk on improvisation and recital by improvisation expert Paula Chateauneuf, and an exploration of a recently discovered cache of baroque music manuscripts in Ghent, presented by their discoverer, Greet Schamp, with mini-recitals of their music for voice, lutes, cittern, baroque guitar, and baroque harp, each given by leading players of those instruments. A joint meeting with the Belgian Lute Academy.

The Noodle Factory: how to create ornamentation and divisions in the manner of the great Improv Masters of the lute and other instruments, a talk by Paula Chateauneuf

The Ghent music manuscripts, Greet Schamp presents her recent discovery of a cache of music manuscripts from Ghent

Mini-recital Richard MacKenzie plays music from the last volume of Brian Wright’s Musica Natalis, lute music for Xmas

The Lute Society Recital, The Final Flourish: a celebration of the exuberant and extravagant late Golden Age, a recital by Paula Chateauneuf

10-Sep-2016, 60th birthday event. This was not at the Dutch Church, but instead at our historic home, (where our foundress Diana Poulton heard Arnold Dolmetsch playing the lute a century ago) the Art Workers Guild, Bloomsbury

To mark the 60th anniversary of our inaugural meeting, held in October 1956, our meeting had a festive character with lots of music, besides trips down memory lane with members who were there in the very early days, space to think about what has changed in early music over six decades, cake and wine.

‘A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing’: Our Ever-changing View of the Lute and its Music, a talk by Anthony Bailes, followed by floor discussion.

If you can remember the ’60s: a panel of veteran members recall the early days, with slide show.

Mini-recital: The Lachrimae Consort play consort music in tribute to our founder, Ian Harwood.

Mini-recital: Duo Piccolo e Grande play mandolin and theorbo duets.

The first Lute Society recital: Nigel North plays the programme from the first ever Lute Society recital, given by Desmond Dupré in October 1956.

Cutting of the home-made lute-cake, with tea and wine.

The Lute Society Recital: ‘Les Cloches de Vienne’ – Lute Music from Salzburg and Vienna, played by Anthony Bailes.

7-May-2016 at the Dutch Church: AGM, a mini-recital on 12-course lute, and talk on messy manuscripts by Evan Plommer, a talk on the Emilian lutenists, and on her theorbo tutor, and a recital of Italian archlute music by Francesco Torelli, talk and mini-recital by John Reeve on his original 17th century lute.

This meeting was be an international affair, with British, Canadian and Italian speakers and performers, and had a decidedly 17th century flavour.

Lute Society AGM

The Emilian Lutenists; and a theorbo tutor, a talk by Francesca Torelli.

The Lute Society Recital, Francesca Torelli plays Italian archlute music of the 17th and 18th centuries

30-Jan-2016 - Original instruments day

Meeting held at the Dutch Church. We had seven original plucked string instruments, played by some of today's leading players. Several of these instruments are on special loan from museums so this is a unique opportunity. And we enjoyed recitals by talented younger players, Yavor Genov and Jadran Duncumb.

The Ledbury Lute: a very rare museum example of a Regency period ‘Modern Lute’ plus an original Apollo lyre and a Light harp-lute; a talk by Chris Egerton, with demonstrations by Taro Takeuchi

Mini-recital music of Dowland, Kapsberger and others, by Yavor Genov

An original instrument project, a talk with mini-recital on original 18th century guitars (Baroque and English) from a museum in Japan, by Taro Takeuchi

Who was Behind the Making of the First Spanish Guitars in London? a talk by James Westbrook of The Guitar Museum; with a chance to see an early extant example belonging to Taro Takeuchi.

2015

12-Sep-2015 - Learning the lute and young performers showcase

In what was surely an appropriate pairing, our meeting combined talks on the theme of how people learnt the lute in two of its Golden Ages, renaissance England and baroque Austria, with a young artists’ showcase, giving us a chance to enjoy the music of the rising generation of students and your professionals.

Lute pedagogy in renaissance England: Methods and motivations, a talk by Michael Gale

Teaching and learning the lute in baroque Austria, a talk by Tim Crawford

At the Dutch Church AGM (including constitutional vote on restriction on number of times president can stand), Jean-Marie Poirier and Thierry Meunier gave a talk on baroque lute duets and baroque lute duet recital, and there was an illustrated talk on Galilei by Zak Ozmo.

AGM (including, vote on occasionally paying for meetings, presidential election, vote on restriction on number of times president can stand to two terms)

Our first meeting of the new year celebrated three ‘Golden Ages’ of the lute: 17th century France, with a talk, mini-recital and recital by Benjamin Narvey; 18th century Germany, with a mini-recital of the music of Weiss, by Richard Mackenzie, and an afternoon dedicated to John Dowland, with a mini-recital by Michele Carreca, and a forum discussing Dowland’s graces, led by Christopher Wilson and Martin Shepherd.

The luth double, an illustrated talk on a neglected French 17th century lute, by Benjamin Narvey, followed by a mini-recital, with Oliver Webber, violin

Mini-recital, Richard Mackenzie plays music by S. L. Weiss.

Mini-recital, Michele Carreca plays music from his new Dowland album

Dowland’s ornaments, a forum with talks by Christopher Wilson and Martin Shepherd, followed by floor discussion

The Lute Society Recital, Benjamin Narvey plays French and German baroque lute music

2014

15-Nov-2014 Thomas Mace "Lute Dyphone" day - the wonder of the age!

An unmissable meeting. Over the years we have often dreamt of a reconstruction of one of the most extraordinary lutes of the 17th century, Thomas Mace’s ‘lute dyphone’. Now at last Italian luthier Antonio Dattis has built a copy—and it sounds great! It was shipped to England specially for this meeting, and it may be many years before it comes here again—this may have been your best chance to see and hear it. Davide Rebuffa played a mini-recital on it, besides presenting his recently published history of the lute. Mimmo Peruffo made a guest appearance to talk about the strings. We also welcomed two lute song duos, Elena Cicinskaite and Marina Theodoropoulou, and Brian Wright with Jeni Melia.

Mace’s Lute dyphone; a reconstruction, talk by Antonio Dattis, mini-recital by Davide Rebuffa, and talk on strings by Mimmo Peruffo.

A new history of the lute, a presentation by David Rebuffa

3-Sep-2014 French and Italian day

At the first of two meetings with a mostly Italian flavour, with talks on the composer Fallamero and on the music of the Thibaut manuscript; and a main recital of lute and theorbo duets. In fact there is another Italian connection in the shape of the diarist Samuel Pepys’s guitar teacher Morelli, who made many of the song arrangements found in his music manuscripts, a selection of which will appear in a forthcoming edition of baroque guitar songs, and which will be previewed in a mini-recital by Jon Rattenbury and friends. Something we have never had at a Lute Society meeting is dancing to the baroque guitar and English guitar..

As we all know the lute has a rich and complex symbolic language, which was not only a matter for the musings of artists and salon intellectuals, but which actually fed back into the music that was composed for it.

The lute as emblem, a talk by Simon Rees

Orpheus Reviv’d, a talk by Anthony Rooley

To pluck or not to pluck, is that a question? a talk by Anthony Rooley

Constantijn Huygens’ Harmonic Garden, a talk by Judy Tarling, illustrated with songs performed by James Bramley and Roseanna Skikun

A lesson with Charles Mouton, Chris Wilson imagines a lesson with Mouton from what we know of his technique

The Lute Society Recital: Confidences Galantes, Fred Jacobs plays French theorbo music by Robert de Visée, also by Nicolas Hotman, Charles Hurel and Estienne le Moine, from his new CD, on a French theorbo by Michael Lowe.

14-Sep-2013, Young Players' Day

The day was an invitation to come and hear the star players of tomorrow! Plus an intriguing talk on the application of technology to recreating lost sounds of the past.

Mini-recital Alex Pullinger, lute

Mini-recital Toby Carr, baroque guitar and lute

Sounds from silence, using technology to recreate lost musical sounds, a talk by Chris Egerton

The modern lute revival has happily taken large lutes and theorboes to its heart, but less attention has been paid to little lutes, and closely related mandolin-family instruments. For this themed day, which explored the world of these neglected instruments, we welcomed international artists and experts from Gemany and Italy, to talk about and perform plucked string music for the smaller lutes.

Early mandolin in historical iconography and modern practice. a talk by Giorgio Ferraris

Show-and-tell and mini-recital, a mammoth ivory mandolin replica, discussed and played by Enzo Puzzovio, accompanied by Stewart McCoy

The relationship between lute and early mandolin, a talk by Susanne Herre

Show-and-tell, and talk: Taro Takeuchi discusses original round-backed English guitars from his collection, and Peter Holman discusses the life and musical activities of Ann Ford

The Lute Society Recital: the Ensemble Baschenis play Italian music for two mandolins, theorbo and cello

For this exciting themed day, we welcomed international artists and experts from Argentina, Spain and the Netherlands, to talk about and perform historical plucked string music from Latin America. At the AGM we elected a new President, David Van Edwards. Carlos Gonzales was the guest luthier and brought plans and posters of the Quito vihuela.

Annual General Meeting, agenda as usual, but also to included election of new president, and discussion of constitution

Plucked instruments and their repertoire in Latin America, from the 16th to the 19th century, a talk by Gabriel Schebor

Iberian influences in Japanese music, a short talk, and mini-recital, by David van Ooijen

Mini-recital, music of Dowland and Michelangelo Galilei, Alex McCartney

New information on the Quito vihuela, and a replica, a talk by Carlos Gonzalez with demonstration recital by Mabel Ruiz

9-Feb-2012: Held at the Dutch Church, included mini recitals of music by Ballard and new music by Brian Wright, with a Bach recital by Bill Carter. The guest luthier was Tony Johnson. Wilfred Foxe's new edition of the Bach lute works, for 13c lute, was on sale, along with other new editions.

Coffee and welcome to new members/beginners

Authenticity and modern lute technique - time to think again? A talk by Martin Eastwell.

Mini-recital, the music of Robert Ballard, by Simon Linne

Mini-recital of new lute songs by Brian Wright and Jeni Melia.

Bach's lute works, a pre-concert talk by William Carter

The Lute Society Recital: William Carter plays Bach.

2011

19-Nov-2011: Our November meeting was as varied as could be, ranging from Elizabethan, through baroque, to our own computer age; also a very cosmpolitan affair, with Hector Sequera from Venezuela, Susan King from New Zealand playing baroque lute music from an Australian manuscript, and a Polish concert duo LuteDuo. Marcos Kaiser Mori was present as a guest luthier.

The Paston lute books: a talk by Hector Sequera

Presentation of Baroque lute music from an Australian lute book, played by Susan King

Presentation of contemporary Australian and Tasmanian lute music, played by Susan King

The Electronic Corpus of Lute Music, a collaborative project for lutenists worldwide: a talk and live on-screen demonstration by Tim Crawford

A day of talks and concerts, jointly organised with The Hungarian Cultural Centre, exploring the rich and fascinating heritage of the lute in Hungary, from the renaissance to the living tradition of the koboz and its music. The Kecskés Ensemble from Szentendre played ancient Hungarian music; a rich sound-world of lutes, theorbo, harp, psaltery, koboz, recorder, gourd-fiddle, Turkish pipe, gemshorn, crumhorn, viola da gamba, hurdy gurdy, renaissance guitar, and song, and other instruments. It was a rare chance to hear this pioneering music group, on a visit to England.

Tünde Fábri-Ivánovics and Géza Fábri are a duo from Szeged who play the oldest strata of Hungarian and East European folk music, reviving a heritage rooted in the Middle Ages, with a finely wrought yet sincere performance style. Their unique sound is established by Tünde Ivánovics’ voice and Géza Fábri’s koboz (or cobză), an ancient East European instrument. This simple combination is used in a deep and conscious way to create music that is both a true tribute to the spirit of tradition, and at the same time a thrilling novelty in each moment.

András Kecskes: The 150 years of renaissance lute in Hungary

Presentation of lute made by David van Edwards’ summer school students; Wilfred Foxe will play on it a tombeau for Ian Harwood

Tünde Fábri-Ivánovics and Géza Fábri ‘Ha folyóvíz volnék . . .’ / ‘If I were a river . . .’; traditional singing and koboz music in the cultural heritage of the ‘csángó’ Hungarians from Moldva

Musical finale

On 12-Feb-2011 we had our Jumbo Manuscript day, with recital by Stewart McCoy playing from the Mathew Holmes manuscript, Dd.2.11. Programme included:

21-May-2011 Each year, the Spring meeting, at which the AGM is held, consists mostly of music, and this year we had a real extravaganza: a one-day festival of lute song, with the launch of two new Lute Society editions of songs (one old and one new) and no fewer than six mini-recitals by lute song duos and trios. At a time when there is concern about the "greying" of classical music audiences and performers alike, note that a number of the performers have the freshness of youth about them, being current or recent students. The day concluded with a performance of Italian theorbo music from Cristina Lyssimachou, an unusually gifted student at the conservatory in Vicenza, Italy.

AGM, agenda as usual

Jeni Melia and Din Ghani perform lute songs not by, but connected with John Dowland

September 11th, 2010 at the Dutch Church, the theme of the day was Thomas Mace, the man and his music, with talks by Benjamin Narvey, and David van Edwards, and talks reflecting Mace's interest in the viol. The day was crowned with the presentation of a 12 course lute in French flat tuning, typical of Mace's day, newly made by David van Edwards and students, for the Society's hire fleet, on which Matthew Spring played one of Mace's suites. Finally Rosemary Hodgson gave the afternoon's main recital, of music by Dowland, John Johnson, Bacheler, Robinson, Ferrabosco, Rosseter and Danyel.

February 6th, 2010, at the Dutch Church, we had a day dedicated to the theme of lute strings, starting at 10.45, with talks by George Stoppani and Mimmo Peruffo, plus mini-recitals by Richard Mackenzie, and soprano Jeni Melia accompanied by Brian Wright; and at 4.30 a recital of French baroque lute music by Claire Antonini.

8-May-2010 As is our wont, after going through the rigours of the AGM we enjoyed a day made up mostly of music, with mini-recitals by Dale Harris, and David Protheroe, a talk and demonstration on the use of gestures in lute song, a recital by Dutch lute duo David van Ooijen and Michiel Niessen, following their superb recording of the (very hard) Terzi duets, Un’ altra canzona . Following recent trips to the Continent, we had on sale most of the published editions of French, Belgian, Spanish and Dutch lute societies, including the recent Thysius lute book facsimile.

Gestures in lute song, talk and demonstration by Rosemary Carlton-Willis, accompanied by David Miller

Mini-recital of Sanz and Vivaldi transcriptions on 13 course lute, played by Dale Harris.

Mini-recital of lute songs performed, self-accompanied, by David Protheroe

2009

November 21 Special meeting at the Dutch Church, Austin Friars, London EC2, ‘Dancing to the lute’ joint event with Early Dance Circle, with demonstrations of renaissance and baroque dances to the lute [musicians: Dawn Johnston, Julia Raeburn, Matthew Spring], and grand finale at 4pm: the audience was invited to take the floor and re-enact the Inns of Court dances, to music from a 6-part broken consort [Lovekyn Consort].

Saturday, January 17th at the Swedenborg Hall, Bloomsbury Way (nearest tube: Holborn)

Talk on the mediaeval lute, by Francisco Orozco

Mini-recital, Yair Avidor plays baroque lute

Notation, ornamentation and interpretation in French baroque lute music, a detailed look at some 17th century French lute pieces; talk by Chris Wilson